Box Score | Photo Gallery (By, Sandy King)

CHARLESTON, Ill. – The Eastern Illinois volleyball team squared off against Drake in the final game of the opening night of the EIU Panther Classic. Eastern Illinois dropped a four-set match to Drake, losing by scores of 18-25, 9-25, 25-23, and 25-13. Tournament play will resume tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. with Louisiana Tech facing Drake. Eastern Illinois will play the 1 p.m. game against Bowling Green and will complete the tournament against Louisiana Tech at 7 p.m.

With the loss, Eastern Illinois drops to 2-7 on the season.

The first set started very evenly matched as the two teams played to a 10-10 tie. Eastern Illinois took a brief lead at 11-10 on a block by Taylor Smith and Maggie Runge. After the score was tied once more at 11-11, Drake began to pull away from the Panthers. Drake would pull ahead 17-12, but an Abby Knight kill broke the Drake streak. The Bulldogs finished off the set at 25-18 on back-to-back kills by Makena Schoene.

Drake ran away with the second set as they scored the first nine points in the set. The Panthers would score back-to-back points on a Drake error and a Maria Brown service ace, but Eastern Illinois could not find their rhythm in the set. Drake went on to win the set 25-9 to take a 2-0 advantage.

A minor lineup switch appeared to benefit the Panthers in the third set. The two teams went back-and-forth with the score tied at 15-15 on a kill by Brown for the Panthers. Eastern Illinois and Drake would trade leads until a Josie Winner kill broke a 20-20 tie and gave the Panthers a one-point lead. Drake would not go away quietly as they were able to tie the Panthers two more times in the set until a block by Knight and Winner, followed by a kill by Knight gave EIU the 25-23 third set win.

Drake would take an early lead to begin the fourth set at 9-4. Drake continued to build on their lead as they used a 7-2 run before an EIU timeout. The timeout worked for the Panthers as Runge earned a kill out of the break, but Drake would prevent EIU from going on a run of their own. Drake took advantage of two EIU errors to end the set at 25-13 in favor of the Bulldogs.

Smith added to her nation leading triple-double total as she earned another one tonight with 10 kills, 14 assists, and 17 digs. Runge ended the match with nine kills and six total blocks.

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In the opening match of the Panther Classic, Bowling Green defeated Louisiana Tech 3-2.